Abortion Rights Freedom Riders Head To Jackson

Freedom Riders Head to Jackson as Abortion Rights at
Critical Juncture

Battle over
Mississippi’s Last Clinic Concentrating State of Abortion
Rights Nationally

As scores of restrictions on
abortion rights travel through legislatures in state after
state, the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride enters a critical
‘flashpoint’ of the national battle shaping up in
Jackson, MS. With its bold and straightforward
message: “Abortion on Demand & Without Apology”,
Freedom Riders and local supporters are shaping a new and
determined counter-offensive, national in its character,
against the legal and ideological assaults on women’s
reproductive rights through speak-outs, rallies, and
honoring of abortion providers.

The Jackson Women's Health
Organization is the last abortion clinic in Mississippi,
open only through court order. As a clinic escort states, it
is the "last resort" for women who go there from all over
the state (Full statement below). With anti-abortion forces
claiming legislative victories nationwide, using ever more
bold anti-women rhetoric, and actively
seeking to undermine and intimidate this 15-state
Abortion Rights Freedom Ride as it enters the
‘heartland’, this state and this clinic concentrate the
emergency situation for abortion rights around the country.

Leading
voices for women’s rights, such as Gloria
Steinem and Eve Ensler (see
statements below) have given their support to this Freedom
Ride, and there is an ever growing list of signees to the
Abortion on Demand & Without Apology Statement. http://www.stoppatriarchy.org/abortionondemandstatement.html

David
Gunn, Jr., the son of David Gunn, Sr., the first
abortion doctor to be assassinated by an anti-abortion
gunman, has been a key organizer of the rally in Jackson,
and an outspoken supporter of the Abortion Rights Freedom
Ride. (Available for Interview – statement
below)

From San
Francisco and New York City, and at every stop (including
key stops in Fargo, ND & Wichita, KS) this Abortion Rights
Freedom Ride and its unapologetic message have drawn forward
support from many corners of society. From the generation
who remembers life before Roe v. Wade, to the young women
who have never heard of abortion rights discussed in a
context free from stigma and shame, the Freedom Riders are
meeting people throughout the heartland who are expressing
support for women’s fundamental rights and a willingness
to act.

"We live in a world in which
inanimate property is better protected by law than is the
human body, and crossing a national boundary is more likely
to be punished than bodily invasion. The long struggle
against chattel, sex and labor slavery are all part of
giving each human being the right to bodily
integrity.

"Women's bodies are the front lines of this
struggle because we are the means of reproduction. Without
controlling women's bodies, it's not possible to continue
divisions of race and class and to produce cheap labor.

"I say this to thank the Freedom Riders in
Little Rock for protecting the only clinic in Arkansas --
and in Jackson, the only clinic in Mississippi -- that
supports women's reproductive freedom. If
women can't decide the fate of our bodies from the skin in,
we can't control our lives from the skin out. Reproductive
justice is the single greatest determinant of whether we are
healthy or not, educated or not, in the paid labor force or
not, and how long she lives. Involuntary pregnancy is the
most intimate form of involuntary servitude, and the right
to give birth is a human right. The power of state stops at
our skins. I thank you for being Freedom Riders for
reproductive freedom."

Eve
Ensler:

"The near-daily laws restricting
women's right to abortion, the chorus of Republicans
belittling rape and shaming women, and the whole future they
are aggressively fighting for are terrifying and an attempt
to push us back to the dark ages. It is a state of
emergency. Forced motherhood is a form of violence.

"But
we must not be paralyzed by fear or sleepwalk in denial. WE
MUST RISE.

"I am proud of throngs rising in Texas. I am
proud of the women and men who will be traveling from both
coasts and down the middle of the country in this summer's
Abortion Rights Freedom Ride. I urge all to follow their
daring and rise with them to reclaim our lives, our bodies,
our own reproductive decisions, and our futures. There is no
time to waste."

David Gunn,
Jr.:

“When I first heard about the
Abortion Rights Freedom Ride, I knew immediately I would
support the plan for many reasons. Primarily, though, my
support came from what Dr. King referred to as “the fierce
urgency of now” coupled with my dad’s admonition to
always pay attention to your surroundings. If anyone
anywhere in this country is paying the remotest of attention
they realize three immediate and concerning realities: 1)
our personal liberty is on the line generally, 2) abortion
rights are in a state of crisis and 3) those opposed to
abortion keep killing our heroic doctors. I believe this
ride has the potential to awaken the masses, refocus our
energies on winning this battle, and will redouble our local
and national efforts to keep our doctors—and their
patients and staff—safe so that abortion services remain
safe and legal.”

"I am a volunteer clinic escort at
Jackson Women's Health Org., the last abortion clinic in
Mississippi. The undue burden that women must endure to
travel hours to our only clinic is heartbreaking. Yet they
are so grateful to have this "last resort" to turn to when
making one of the most crucial decisions in their lives. If
it takes fighting to my last breath, THIS CLINIC STAYS
OPEN!

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